All the current switches and relays have two rated capacities, i.e., the turn-off capacity and the conductive capacity which is usually higher than the former.
Since the contacts or the poles of the conventional multi-pole switch or relay are all the same size, the rated capacities of the switch are based on the size of the contacts. However, the design of this invention provides for multi-pole switches which have different sized contacts, one size for each pole. Therefore, multi-pole switches of the present invention can be rated based on the size of the largest set of contacts.
The size of positioning of the contacts is impotant with respect to the electrical arcing which occurs between the contacts whenever they are opened or closed. Arcing can damage the contact points, reducing their electrical performance and requiring their frequent replacement. In a multi-pole switch, these problems are multiplied by the number of contact points contained therein. The present invention provides a multi-pole switch in which arcing is effectively limited to one pair of contact points.